Marotta Asset Management Invests $298,000 in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Marotta Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $298,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.6% in the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 2,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Key Western Digital News

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target on Western Digital to $732 from $610 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling confidence in further upside. Benzinga report on Bank of America price target hike
• Positive Sentiment: Melius Research upgraded Western Digital to strong-buy, adding to the list of bullish analyst views on the stock. Zacks report on Melius upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks said Western Digital has an impressive earnings surprise record and the right setup to potentially beat estimates again in its next quarterly report. Article: Will Western Digital (WDC) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital was included in Zacks’ list of top momentum stocks for Q3 2026, reflecting continued investor interest in AI-driven storage names. Article: 5 Top-Ranked Momentum Stock Picks for Q3 2026 After a Fabulous Q2
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are revisiting fair value estimates as they reassess AI storage demand, HDD pricing, and Western Digital’s product roadmap, keeping the valuation debate active. Article: Western Digital Stock Gets Fair Value Boost As Analysts Reassess AI Storage Demand
• Negative Sentiment: WDC was hit by a broader memory-chip and semiconductor pullback, as investors rotated out of some of this year’s hottest names. Article: Micron Drops 8%, SanDisk Slumps 10%, Western Digital Falls 7% as Memory Stocks Pull Back With the Nasdaq

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $539.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $185.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $63.67 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $536.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $357.93.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm’s revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 3.58%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.